Cult of Me

Cult of Me by Micheal Brookes

This was a new take on the idea of telepathy and the ability to influence other’s minds. Or rather, it started off that way. We start by following the potagonist as he spends his first night in jail. Far from being scared or annoyed at being caught, he is glad to be there. He has a plan, the details of which are divulged later. He occupies himself by torturing the other inmates.

Switching between the present prison and his past, his life is gradually revealed. He’s not the typical hero type. In fact he is distincly not heroic, at no time actually wanting to do something to help others except when it benefits him. I actually found myself surprisinglty drawn in, especially considering the rather depraved nature of some of his actions. He uses his abilities almost exclusively for personal gain and to manipulate others. He thinks nothing of sending random strangers to their deaths, or taking advantage of the people around them by implanting thoughts in their minds.

I was actually going to give this book 4 stars (or suns since I still can't find any stars), right up untill about ¾ through when the end squence starts. The plan goes wrong, not a bad thing considering the amount of death planned, but all quite strange in the way it happens. Then, and this is where I struggled to keep going, a relgious botherhood of catholic monks comes in and offers him a deal.

Now I have nothing against monks, in fact, I’ve met a few very nice ones, but I do not like good verses evil, God is good and Satan is corrupting everyone narritive. What saved this book for me was the fact that the protagonist wasn’t terribly convinced of God and Satan either. I think if he’d immeadiately gone to a save the world mentality I would have had to put it down. But he didn’t. He wasn’t seeking redemtion and he carried on as best he could. It reminded me of Martina Cole’s books, characters you grow to like despite the fact that you would never, ever wish to meet them in real life.

So, 3 stars, but it was almost four. And if you are a fan of good verses evil this is definatly the book for you. If you like your protagonists to be heroes and go around questioning the morality of everything, this is not the book to read. This guy has a complex history which is well represented but very dark. And he has a consistant way of thinking which keeps the narritive going, even though it’s horrific in most respects.

Happy Reading... 

...Or not, since this isn’t really a happy book, but that never stopped it being good.